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Grand Forks Herald
UND dominates first half in beating LIU 42-21
- Story byGrand Forks Herald
- UND dominates first half in beating LIU 42-21
Aug. 27—GRAND FORKS — UND's first play of the 2026 season was a perfect deep ball from quarterback Jerry Kaminski to wide receiver Caleb Goodloe.
The play was dialed up to set a tone and send the 10,344 into a frenzy.
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Instead, a wide-open Goodloe dropped the ball.
"Knowing that we were coming out with that first play, got a little antsy," Goodloe said. "Make a mistake, you just have to let it go."
The first play wasn't an omen. It was about the only thing that went wrong in the first half.
In playing just two quarters, Kaminski threw for 232 yards and three touchdowns while Goodloe ended with five catches for 118 yards and a touchdown. The dominant first-half performances sparked UND to a 42-21 win over Long Island University on Thursday night in the season opener at the Alerus Center.
"I can't remember Caleb dropping a ball in practice," Kaminski said. "I have all the confidence in the world in him."
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The Fighting Hawks, ranked No. 10 in the preseason FCS Top 25 poll, led 42-0 at halftime. UND put up 320 yards of total offense at halftime to LIU's 36 yards.
"Story of two halves," UND coach Eric Schmidt said. "You score 42 points on anybody in a half, that's saying something. Where we're ahead of where we've been is throwing and catching it. That was pretty obvious."
The Hawks finished with 421 yards of total offense.
Kaminski, in his second season as the Hawks' starting quarterback, hit 10 different receivers in the first half and ended 17-for-21. He hit touchdown passes to Korey Tai (14 yards) and Nathan Hromadka (5 yards) in the first quarter.
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The touchdown to Tai came on the first drive. Kaminski was 7-for-8 on the drive with the Goodloe drop the only incompletion. The touchdown throw to Tai came on a sidearm sling with a defender impacting his throwing lane.
"Some things to build on," Kaminski said of the first-half offense. "I think there's just a lot of confidence right now going forward. It's a good feeling."
Matt Lawson, a first-year transfer running back from Illinois State, also scored his first touchdown for UND in the first quarter — a 4-yard run.
In the second quarter, Goodloe scored from 28 yards out when Kaminski hit the Bowling Green transfer on the sideline. Goodloe shook a defender by slamming on the brakes and cruised into the end zone for his first college score.
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Charles Langama, a sophomore from Maple Grove, added to the first-half onslaught with a 13-yard run for a 36-0 lead, followed by Lawson's second score. Lawson scored from 1-yard out one play after Kaminski connected with Sam Strandell on a 40-yard flea flicker down to the 1.
After securing the dominant halftime lead, UND pulled most of its standouts. Kaminski immediately wore a headset on the sideline to start the second half.
"I just think it's hard when you're sitting here as a coach, and if I'm answering a question to you, that hey, you just got your quarterback hurt when it's 42-nothing at halftime ...," Schmidt said. "There's 11 more games left in the season. You got to make sure that you protect guys, too. We've got competitors on our team; they want to go out there all the time. That's our job to manage them, as coaches."
With backups on offense and defense in the second half, the Hawks sputtered as Long Island scored 21 unanswered points.
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Tyselle Spencer scored on a 13-yard run midway through the third quarter, Boakai Veikei caught a 65-yard touchdown pass late in the third from Luca Stanzani and Stanzani scored on a 1-yard run late in the fourth quarter.
UND backup quarterback Javance Tupou'ata-Johnson finished the second half 3-for-6 for 65 yards with one interception. His biggest completion was a 59-yard strike to Tai.
The Hawks play St. Thomas at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Alerus Center.
